Solar Installations in the United States¶
Sarah Unbehaun
May 2018
The Data¶
Data by county on:¶
- PV installations (NREL Open PV)
- Direct normal irradiation, PV-suitable small buildings (NSRDB)
- Electricity prices and utility territories (EIA)
- Population and median income (Census)
- 2004-2012 presidential elections (USGS, via Hello Word Data)
Feature Importance¶
Based on Random Forest regression¶
Top predictors:
- Population
- Number of small buildings
- Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI)
- Average cost per watt
Other predictors:
- Median Income
- Percent democratic votes, 2004, 2008 and 2012
- Electricity price
- Area in square miles
- Percent of small buildings suitable for solar